I just got home from my trip to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and it was so fun! One of my best friends and I Airbnb‘d (totally a verb) a cabin and we explored the Smokies, cameras in hand. A few years ago I passed through the mountains on my way to Charleston, SC, but didn’t have much time to get many shots.

My friend Toni brought along her dog, Boo, so I had a cuddle buddy for the week. I was also really excited to try some more lifestyle pet photography. I think I did all right considering we (Boo included) were pretty overwhelmed with our new surroundings. Boo couldn’t join us on most of the trails since they weren’t dog-friendly, but he had a great time just the same.

One of the days we spent white water rafting. It’s the first time I’ve ever gone and it was so fun! And cold! Our instructor suggested some great moonshine distilleries in Gatlinburg, so we checked those out another day.

We also went zip lining which I’d never done before either. It was a little nerve-wracking at first being up that high, but I got the hang of it! (No pun intended.)

Those two photos were taken by the zip lining crew. Unfortunately I don’t have photos of the white water rafting. The rafting tour was supposed to have a photographer, but apparently he fell down a cliff and broke his camera! Oops! Then I also didn’t want to put my camera in danger for those activities. I instead took my camera hiking up mountains and over rivers and waterfalls which was obviously more safe…

I survived the week cooking steak on a charcoal grill in complete darkness without getting eaten by a bear and raccoons rummaging through our food scraps. It was 75 and sunny the whole week and we contemplated selling everything and buying a cabin in the mountains, but it feels good to be back home in Chicago.